INDIANAPOLIS - Perry Como popularized the line "there's no place like home for the holidays" and the IUPUI basketball team proved it on Saturday (Dec. 19), trouncing visiting Southern Utah, 82-68 inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum. Junior Darell Combs pumped in a team-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and senior Marcellus Barksdale added a season-high 15 points, seven boards and five assists. Junior Matt O'Leary just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine boards and freshman Evan Hall showed well in his first collegiate start with a season-best 14 points and four rebounds. 

Travon Langston led Southern Utah (2-7) with 21 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. 

"It was just a good team win for us," IUPUI Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "We were unselfish with the basketball and that led to a lot of open looks. I thought we had a really good week in practice and we were just ready to be home for a change. You could see it that the guys were really locked in at both ends in the first half and we got out to a big lead because of it."

IUPUI, having played 10 of 12 games on the road to start the season, took an immediate shining to the home digs, hitting its first four threes of the game to build a quick 16-10 lead. Barksdale connected from the corner at the 14:49 mark for the fourth make and Combs capped an 11-0 run with his third make of the game near the midpoint of the half, putting the Jags ahead 24-10. The lead grew as high as 22 before halftime when Hall dropped in a reverse layup and the Jags closed the stanza with a 46-26 advantage with the 46 first half points setting a new season-high. 

IUPUI (4-9) shot better than 57 percent in the first half, including making 5-of-7 three-point attempts. Southern Utah cut into the Jaguars' lead in the second half, using an 8-2 burst at one point to close within 12 at 64-52, prompting Gardner to call timeout. The SUU run continued when Casey Oliverson got loose for a layup with just under eight minutes left, but Barksdale helped reignite the Jaguars to seal the win. 

The only member of the IUPUI team to have played against Southern Utah when the two sides were conference foes, Barksdale scored on a drive and then keyed back-to-back defensive stands. The second stop resulted in a Combs fast break bucket to push the lead to 72-56, rendering the final five minutes as garbage time. 

"We got stops when we needed them," Gardner said. "I thought we were really good defensively in the first half and did a good job of blocking out and getting the defensive rebounds. We weren't quite as good in the second half, but we got the stops we needed to get the win."

IUPUI ended the game at a season-high 55.6 percent from the floor and delivered 15 assists on 30 field goals, while committing only nine turnovers. Sophomore Jordan Pickett was credited with initiating the offense for much of the day and closed with nine points and three assists, while attempting just three shots. 

"When they went zone, we were able to penetrate and get clean looks. I liked the way we executed, both against their man (defense) and zone," Gardner said. "We didn't settle for jumpers and made an effort to get the ball inside and get layups."

IUPUI attempted a season-low 11 treys as Combs was a perfect 3-of-3 from deep. Pickett was 2-of-3 with all of his shot attempts coming from beyond the arc. 

James McGee tallied 18 points for the T-Birds and Trey Kennedy pumped in 14. Oliverson, the T-Birds' primary interior threat, added 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting. Southern Utah shot 57 percent from the floor in the second half and finished the game at exactly 50 percent. 

The win moved IUPUI to 3-0 at home this season and is averaging 82 points per game in those three victories. IUPUI also improved to 22-11 all-time against Southern Utah and 9-6 in games played in Indy. 

IUPUI will return to action on Tuesday night (Dec. 22) when the Jaguars take on Memphis inside the FedEx Forum at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. That game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and can be heard in Central Indiana on 107.5 FM as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call.